Some degrees may not be career-specific, but any degree is exemplary of your work ethic, commitment, and capability to think critically. Your specific subject area is just a matter of personal interest or choice. For example, English Literature may not be as specific as Law, but it most certainly still has its benefits. Apart from subject-specific knowledge, the majority of a degree is spent building your transferable skills, so you can adapt to the workplace.
...having a more uni-dimensional degree gives them broader knowledge and time to develop those transferable skills you can apply to a variety of professional environments.
In fact, this makes these supposed 'Mickey Mouse degrees' more beneficial. The more subject-specific your degree is, the more limited and streamlined your knowledge will be. Perfect if you know what career you want. But for the majority of people, having a more uni-dimensional degree gives them broader knowledge and time to develop those transferable skills you can apply to a variety of professional environments. You'll leave university as a flexible, adaptable and multidimensional asset to the working world.
But taking your transferable skills from your degree and streamlining it into a career that rejects the corporate lifestyle is increasingly becoming just as valid an option. Now more than ever. The movement towards a more freelance, be-your-own-boss lifestyle seems more appropriate in the age of social media.
Everybody is an influencer now. Whether they have 100 or 100k followers, we all promote our online presence, whether we like it or not. This has simultaneously normalised the idea of building a career from the phone. There are numerous low-grade influencers and entrepreneurs creating content and products, generating a solid income in the process.
A 'Mickey Mouse degree' for enjoyment may be the answer for our burnt-out generation.
You may also reject the corporate lifestyle because of this, anyway, regardless of your career path. Maintaining an online presence is a job in itself, and we are constantly in a heightened state of self-awareness. Day-to-day, we go to school, university, or work, and then curate our 'gym bro' or 'academic weapon' aesthetic on top of that. We are chronically online, wholly obsessed with how we are perceived, and constantly over-stimulating our brain-rotted brains. A 'Mickey Mouse degree' for enjoyment may be the answer for our burnt-out generation.
Which ironically exists in a society that is already burnt out. Western contemporary culture certainly prioritises the 'hustle', or the 'grind', common expressions that convey our work-focused attitude. This is the exact reason people get shamed for choosing supposedly 'soft' subjects. But countries with better quality-of-life scores have a stronger work-life balance: with shorter working days and more holidays. By prioritising well-being, they're also more productive when they return to work. A 'Mickey Mouse degree' may be the perfect way to achieve this balance by doing what you love to prevent burnout.
So, although some degrees are regarded as 'Mickey Mouse', they aren't truly useless. All degrees are beneficial, so if you want to choose a degree purely out of enjoyment or to reject the corporate lifestyle, that's completely valid. You're better off spending three years doing something you're interested in and enjoying yourself than setting yourself up for failure.